Gulf of Mexico

We arrived in the Gulf early Wednesday morning at 2am. After a short nap we were up at Zachary’s regular time 7am , tired but ready to go. Meemee and Granddaddy were already down at the condo and we all had a big breakfast. Around 10am Mommy, Meemee and Zachary headed off to the beach, while Granddaddy rested in the condo and I had to do some work.



The ocean had a red flag (strong currents) and purple flag (marine life), but that did not stop the crowds from coming out to soak in the rays. Zachary had a wonderful time playing in the ocean and then came back for his mid afternoon nap. I got wrapped up with work about the same time as nap time, so I headed off for the beach with Meemee. I was able to relax and read about 7 chapters of a new book I just started (Out of the Comfort Zone by Ray Comfort).

Around 2pm Mommy and Zachary came back down to the beach and we had a great time. We walked about 1000 yards down the beach to a small lake and played in the water for about 30 minutes before heading back. Zachary enjoyed watching the surf come in and go back out, and loved throwing his ball in the ocean. I figured out how to keep him going in the right direction without physically making him. I would roll his ball in the direction we were heading, and Zachary would take off running after it. I love watching him learn how to run. He is 18 months old now and I think the cutest baby in the world. I am not proud or anything…

After Zachary went down for the night Wednesday Tina and I were able to go for a sunset walk on the beach. We had a great time watching the sunset and just talking and walking. Wednesday ended up being a wonderful day!

Today started off looking like rain. We took off to the ocean around 9am and were able to play for only about 15 minutes before the bottom dropped out. It poured and we had to flee back towards the condo. We were able to go a play for a short time in the pool, before heading back in for Zachary’s mid day nap. Once Zachary was up from his nap, Mommy and Meemee were off again to the beach, while Granddaddy rested and I caught up on some much needed sleep. From what I understand Zachary enjoyed the beach better this afternoon than yesterday and they had a wonderful time. The rest of the day was very relaxing and we are looking forward to Friday and hopefully slightly better weather.

Fred's Dollar Store

On the way home from Wednesday church I realized I had not given anyone a gospel tract nor witnessed to anyone today, so I pulled into the Fred’s Dollar store near my home. There was a young guy riding a BMX bike in the parking lot. As I pulled up to him I could tell he was a rough looking character. He had tattoos all over his body and some kind of weird Mohawk. I used the “Curved Illusion” gospel tract to break the ice, which he found very amusing. This whole encounter took about 20 minutes in which I never left my vehicle.

Here is a brief summary of our encounter. Brian was the young man riding his bike in the parking lot and he was 24 years old. After I told him the “Curved Illusion” was a gospel tract and decided he was not offended at this, I asked if he has had a Christian background. Brian said that he did not have any kind of religious background at all. I went on to ask Brian if he believed in God, heaven and hell, which he replied he believed so. When I asked Brian where he thought he would go if he were to die tonight, of course he said heaven. When I asked why he would go to heaven he gave me the obvious response, because he has been a pretty good person.

Well it did not take long to figure out that Brian was just like the rest of us, not very good. He was gracious to get up on the witness stand and see how he faired with God’s standard (10 commandments). Within about 5 minutes Brian had admitted to being a liar, thief, blasphemer and adulterer at heart. He was still holding onto his self righteousness and believing his good deeds outweighed his bad. I explained the analogy of being in a man’s courtroom and trying to convince a Judge of this defense.

“Your honor I know I’m guilty, but I have done a lot of good things with my life too. I think you’re a good Judge and should just forgive me.”

Brian quickly realized that this would not work in a human court room, so it was not going to work in God’s courtroom. Once Brian seemed to understand his guilt and after he admitted that God would have no choice but to send him to hell, he was ready for the gospel. When I asked Brian if he knew what God had done for him so he would not have to be sent to hell, he had no idea.

I went on to tell Brian the good news about Christ and how through Christ’s blood, suffering and death at the cross, God can now legally commute his death sentence. I explained that just knowing this will not save him and that he needed to repent of his sins and put all his faith in Christ.

I asked Brian if he was concerned that if he died tonight and God judged him based on him being a liar, thief, blasphemer and adulterer at heart he would end of in hell. He responded yes it does concern him. I asked Brian when he thought he was going to get right with God, repent and place his faith in Christ, which he responded soon.

Please note everyone that I could have easily pushed harder for a prayer (sinners prayer), but I was getting the impression that he was not quiet ready yet. Although there did seem to be some concern in Brian’s face and tone, he just did not seem broken about his sins. I personally do not believe in praying a prayer for someone or even asking them to pray after me. I believe the prayer should come from the heart similar to that of King David after Nathan showed him that he had broken God’s Laws and sinned against God. I strongly encouraged Brian to make sure he was right with God before leaving the parking lot. I pointed out that we are not promised tomorrow and he needs no one to help him get right with God. Repent and Faith. Repent and place all your faith in Christ is what I told him. I did pass on my information to Brian in hope of him contacting me.

Please pray that God will work heavy on Brian’s heart and that he will come to true repentance and faith in Christ.

My prayer is this:

Lord help me to be satisfied with only spreading your truth and not concerned about getting decisions, as I realize salvation only comes from you. The field and harvest is yours and I’m only your worker. Lord help me to continue spreading the seeds of truth wherever I go and I pray you will grow it in the hearts of the hearers. Lord please stir in Brian’s heart and do not let him rest until he falls upon his knees in genuine sorrow for his sins. Please Lord I beg you to save him and allow him to grow into a strong witness for you, so that you and only you will get all the Glory, Honor and Praise, because you and only you are worthy of it. In Jesus name, amen.

i.fish ministry

There are four new dates on the i.fish website for seeking lost souls. Please use the contact tab on i.fish's website to email us for more details.

Ice Breakers (gospel tracts) can be provided upon request.

Eight Weeks

Well it’s been eight weeks since I was baptized at First Baptist North Spartanburg. I was baptized when I was a young boy, but looking back on it I believe I just went swimming. My life never changed and really my life started going down hill with sin. Anyway, I will leave my testimony for another day, but I wanted to tell everyone something someone said to me right before I was baptized.

While I was waiting for the service to start I met a gentleman who was a pastor at another church. I don’t remember his name, but he was there to baptize his grandchild. We were talking briefly before the service started and I was telling him my story about why I was getting dunked again. He said these words to me right before I went down in the water, “Get ready for Satan to get after you”. Well I just politely said I would and then I never saw him again.

Right after I was baptized I got sick with a sinus-head cold. I don’t know if it was allergies or a cold, but it finally got me so down so I had to call the doctor. The doctor called me in an antibiotic which moved everything from my head to my chest, and then I started coughing like crazy. The coughing and chest problems continued until I finally called the doctor back. I then received a steroid shot for allergies which seemed to help some. As of today’s date I still have a small cough and have started getting canker sores in my mouth.

Now I have never had issues before with allergies and although I do sometimes get canker sores in my mouth, I never have had more than about two at a time. I have to be honest it’s been one of the most difficult summers I can remember, except when my father was killed in 1996.

Are the problems I have been experiencing for the last eight weeks related to my baptism? I don’t know, but I do know I’m ready to start feeling better. If my problems are related to my baptism, then I feel honored to be able to suffer because of the one who should not have had to suffer, Christ. I have confidence that God is in control and when it’s time I will be whole again.

i.fish

I have launched a new website called i.fish that will focus mainly right now on putting together outings to public events, to pass out gospel tracts and seek for lost souls. Please click the link above and check out the website.

Downtown Greenville Fishing Trip

Downtown Greenville had their Fourth of July festival this past Friday night – hosted by AT&T. Me, my father-in-law (Bruce Lucas), cousin (Paul Edgar), and good buddy (Mike Styles) decided to head down around 7PM to hand out some gospel tracts and do some street fishing (witnessing). There was a huge turn out of people there, which seemed to be around 10,000 give or take a few thousand people.

Upon arriving in downtown and after paying to park, we had a quick prayer in the parking garage asking God to put the gospel tracts in the right people’s hands, and then started passing them out right away. Mike and Bruce both had one pack of 100 “million dollar” tracts a piece, along with about 20 “optical illusion” tracts. Paul and I both had two packs of 100 “million dollar”

tracts a piece, with about 20 “optical illusion” tracts. We handed out close to 700 gospel tracts

before 9PM, and really had a great time.

We all had some good conversations about God with strangers, and we all had a few people who were rude to us, but the overwhelming majority of people were very nice. The only thing that could have been better would have been to have had about 5 more people and about another few thousand tracts. There were just too many people for the four of us.

I know a lot of people will say what a waste of time just handing out gospel tracts are, and that one on one witnessing is the best way to go. I would agree that one on one is much preferred than just handing a tract to someone passing by, but God promises us that His Word will never come back void. Please pray that God would grow the seeds that we obediently spread Friday night.

I would like to send out special thanks to Tina, Wanda and Cheryl for letting us guys go out Friday night and fish for lost souls. Ladies you played a huge role in getting these tracts passed out, so I just wanted to say thank you!

Finished Tozer's Book

Well I finished Tozer’s book “The Knowledge of the Holy” today and let me say again, it is one of the best books I have ever read. I feel Tozer has helped me grow in my understanding of who God is and I now have a deeper view of His Holiness. The book was so good, I just had to loan it out right away to friend. Once I get the book back, I will go through each chapter and highlight the main points on the blog.

Have a safe and happy fourth everyone!

200 Gospel Tracts

Friday night a good friend of mine Mike Styles and I decided to head up to Barnett Park in big downtown Spartanburg to give away some Gospel tracts. Spartanburg was putting on the “Red, White and Boom Festival” for an early fourth celebration. Mike and I had only one objective on this outing and it was not to see the fireworks. We both had 100 gospel tracts and we planned on giving them all away at the entrance to the park.

It’s funny how some people just will not take things, even if they are free. It seems if you can start to get a crowd taking the free “Million Dollar Bill” gospel tract, other people will accept them without much hesitation. We had a great time and handed out 200 gospel tracts in about one hour.

Mike got to see first hand how the “Good Person” witnessing technique works. Towards the end we handed Caroline and her girlfriend a tract. They were friendly so I asked if they believed in God, which they both replied “Sure”. I asked Caroline if she thought she was a good person to which she relied “Yes” and her girlfriend said “She is very good”. I explained to Caroline that we humans compare our goodness to each other, but we need to look towards God’s goodness. I told her there is a small test to see just how good she was, and asked if she wanted to take it. After a couple of giggles from both the girls, Caroline agreed. After I had taken Caroline through God’s Law she was definitely convicted. I think I might have seen some tears come into her eyes once she started seeing herself how God views her. The giggles were now gone and she stood silenced before God’s Law, (Romans 3:19). The Gospel message should have stood out to her and she seemed to have a better understanding of what Jesus actual did up on that cross 2000 years ago. She said she would seriously consider the things we talked about, so please pray God will continue to work on her heart. Please pray the Lord will grow the seed in her life and that someone or even many that received the “Million Dollar Bill” will repent and place their faith and hope in Christ.